As a result of the increased need for information exchange in today's increasingly technological society, information storage and retrieval has become immensely important. The rapidly growing urge for increased access to information has initiated the development of ever larger and faster data storage and retrieval systems. Many different data storage and retrieval systems are utilized to date. For example, the most common systems in use today are (i) hard disk drives, (ii) floppy disk drives, (iii) tape drives, (iv) CD-ROM and DVD drives, and (v) various forms of RAM memory. Systems for permanent data storage and data retrieval utilize methods that are based on magnetic fields (i to iii) and optical laser beams (iv), respectively. They yield high storage capacities, but are limited to storage densities of approximately 10.sup.10 bits/inch.sup.2 and slow data access times of more than 5 ms. In contrast, RAM memory (v) is a "hard-wired" solid state memory, which is significantly faster than the previously described data storage devices, but with the disadvantage that the stored information is volatile and non-permanent. It also has limitations in storage density and storage capacity due to manufacturing intricacies.
In view above, and the increasing demand for data storage and fast retrieval, there is a need for a non-volatile data storage device that is faster than current magnetic and optical data storage devices that also provides for a higher data density. Such a device would be desirable because of its speed and small size. The present invention provides such a device.